Fort Lauderdale Boat Show Moving into Tricked-Out Parking Garage at Revamped Bahia Mar

Fort Lauderdale Beach's Bahia Mar Resort & Marina has proposed a big revamp and expansion that includes the demolition of a low-rise hotel building, the renovation of the existing and rather brutalist hotel tower (hopefully with bigger windows, although you can't really tell from these renderings) and the construction of a host of new buildings that would transform the whole site, including two new 39 story condo towers. The project is designed to "engage the public with Bahia Mar", with an 18 foot wide pedestrian walkway that will circle the site around its large marina, two freestanding restaurant buildings, and a "fishing village". Finally, since the Bahia Mar is the home of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the largest boat show in the world, that's getting lots of attention too. Instead of being held in tents, it would be held in a tricked-out parking garage with 16 foot ceilings and two atriums that would be converted to exhibition space for the show.

· Bahia Mar's Massive Revamp in Fort Lauderdale [SFBJ]